There it stood in front of us, the monstrosity that could easily destroy a small village with its bare hands. The atmosphere in the area was devastating. Every single person behind us was kneeling on the ground, their eyes staring at the goblin king.
They were scared. Well, of course, they were. Who wouldn't be terrified of the giant that could stomp you to death? Me! My heart felt weirdly calm.
What is this feeling? I can feel my heart pounding in excitement. Every single second I stare deep into this monster's eyes, I feel my fighting spirit rise. I want to fight you! You are my prey, and I am the hunter!
The goblin king's gaze fell on me. A look of amazement shone in its eyes.
Grrr
The monster was growling as if trying to tell me something. Even without understanding the monster's language, I could guess what it wanted to say.
"Today you will all die for the blood you shed in my village." This is what I believe it would say if it could speak in the human tongue.
"Big sis. If we fight here, all these people behind us will die. We must lure the monster away from the village."
I knew that myself. There wasn't a single person standing on their feet at the moment. If that monster went wild, all their lives would be extinguished in a second.
"Take the remaining people and get away from here as far as you can. Also… take Malrang with you. I don't want it to die here."
"What are you planning, big sis?!"
"I will fight it alone."
"You cannot! It highly outlevels you; we must fight together or run. There's no way you can take it down on your own. You'll die!"
I looked at Kim Seong-Hoon, and I felt disappointed. Did this person trust me so little? Where did his cocky and playful behavior go?
"Kim Seong-Hoon, I understand you're worried about me, but you must trust me more. Even if I can't win against this thing, I can at least run. The people behind us need someone to lift their spirits. They need a savior. And you can be that savior. Go and get them far from here. If you want to come back for me later, I'll be waiting for you. But do not get in my way. This thing is mine!"
"Big sis…"
Kim Seong-Hoon stood there silently, reluctantly watching me as if it would be the last time we spoke.
"Fine. But you better not die, or I'll kill you myself in the afterlife!"
For the first time, I saw a worried expression on that goofy face.
"Sounds fair to me."
"You know you have quite a wild smile on your face right now. You scare me a little."
"Do I? Well… my heart has been beating wildly for a while. I can't wait to fight."
"You're more of a monster than that thing…"
Rooaar
"GO!"
"Wooo!"
"You too, Malrang! I'll be okay. I promise."
"Wooo…"
I could tell Malrang wanted to stay and fight with me, but I felt that I had to fight this battle alone. However, our link was strong, and Malrang quickly understood my intentions. It ran to people and bit them awake one by one, trying to drag them away.
All the people finally snapped out of their stupor and, one by one, stood up to run.
Roooaaar
The goblin king moved as fast as lightning to stop people from running away, but I was ready.
I used my kinetic slash to hit its legs, and the power from the attack made the monster trip and fall, giving people enough time to escape.
"Your opponent is me, you fat, ugly pickle monster!"
ROAR
It looks pissed.
The monster stood up and looked at me and the people running into the distance.
The most horrifying smile I have seen in my life appeared on its face.
I took this time to use my darkness steps ability to increase my agility to the maximum. If I got hit even once, I would most likely die or get heavily injured.
To my surprise, the goblin king turned around and went in the direction of the fence.
What is it doing? Is it trying to leave?
What happened next made my eyes almost pop out of their sockets. A three-meter-long tree log that was planted deep inside the ground was easily uprooted before my eyes.
What ridiculous strength!
The goblin king easily wielded the log as a weapon. I was faced with the most difficult fight of my life.
It's coming!
A giant three-meter-tall monster moved as quickly as wind and reduced the distance between us in a few seconds. I used my space distortion to dodge the attack, which almost took my left arm with a giant tree log.
Kinetic slash!
Right after dodging, I launched several long-range attacks at the monster, which only left tiny wounds on its body.
Damn it! The monster's skin is too thick. My attacks cannot heavily injure it. I will have to dodge until I can enter my advanced state. Perhaps, with my stats boosted, I will be able to leave bigger wounds on it.
Another swing came flying at me, and I could only dodge while launching attacks at the monster's legs in order to make it fall. But to my disappointment, the same trick did not work twice. I had to change my battle tactics.
My scythe's cutting damage was twice as great as kinetic slash. With every single attack the monster launched, I dodged with space distortion and slashed the monster with the scythe.
This cat-and-mouse game lasted around twenty seconds before the monster used a skill to blast me away. The goblin king's entire body became surrounded by a blood-colored mist. I could feel it was using some sort of ability to boost its stats.
Not good!
Right before I could even react, the monster was in my face. The giant tree log was already inches from my body.
"Kinetic shield! Kinetic shield! Kinetic shield!"
-YOU HAVE ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE! THE LIMIT BREAKER ACHIEVEMENT HAS BEEN GRANTED!
-YOU HAVE BEEN REWARDED WITH ONE RANDOM SKILL BOX-
What was that about?
I had no time to think about the system message right now.
Instinctively, I used my best defensive skill in several layers to block the attack. I don't remember how I managed to do it. But my body felt as if it was running in automatic mode.
Boom
My body was sent flying in the hut's direction. I could feel immense pain in my ribs. If my guess was right, several of my ribs were instantly shattered by the tremendous force of the attack. My body flew through the hut and, after destroying every wall in its path, crashed through the other side of the building. I hit the ground, barely breathing.
Damn it! Everything hurts. That piece of shit! I will kill him!
My rage grew, and my power surged.
What a weird feeling. The closer I am to death, the stronger my fighting spirit becomes!
After coming to my senses, I saw the giant shadow closing in on me. A tall three-meter giant was falling from above, swinging the log at where I was lying.
You must be kidding me...
I used my space distortion as fast as I could and rolled to the side, barely managing to dodge the attack.
BOOM
A small crater appeared in the ground where I was lying. If that had hit me, I would have been reduced to a bloody puddle.
The force of the attack was so great that it flung my body a few meters before I hit the wooden fence.
Barely managing to stand up, I looked in the direction of the monster. Its wild eyes looked playful, as if it was trying to tell me it let me dodge on purpose.
Does he think he's won already? Naive!
At that point, I completely lost it. I could no longer feel pain, and all I cared about was killing.
Soul shackle...
The goblin king froze and finally revealed a hint of fear in his eyes.
Without wasting any time, I dashed at the monster with my maximum speed and slashed at its neck, finally making a small wound.
So, its weak point is the neck. I will make sure its head flies today.
Spinning my scythe in a circle, I slashed several times at the same area on the neck until a small amount of blood started pouring out of the wound.
But my excitement was quickly broken by the roar of the goblin king.
The five or so seconds I had to attack were finally over when the monster broke free with its tremendous strength.
"You look pissed! Come at me! I will make you bleed more!"
ROOOAAAAR
The massive log in its hands flew at me with lightning speed, but I was not scared. More than that, I was happy.
It finally lost it.
I slashed the giant log in two in the middle as it flew at me and rushed at the monster with space distortion.
The goblin king tried grabbing me, but to no avail. I dodged its attack and slashed at its neck again. I was faster than him. Even if only slightly, I was faster. Having a huge body reveals many openings to your opponent, who is smaller in size.
After slashing the goblin king's neck, I used the momentum to jump on its back and used soul shackle again. The movements of the goblin stopped, and I quickly used my newly acquired ability: Soul Bite!
-Soul Bite (50 mana)- Inflict heavy damage to the target's soul. Can only be used at a close distance. The amount of damage done depends on the target's soul strength. Part of the damage will be absorbed as nourishment for the caster. (3 seconds cast)-
Let me see what your soul tastes like!
Massive illusory teeth appeared on my face, and I bit into the back of the monster's neck.